The major lesson of taking on the Alpine Route from Halifax to Keighley is that of knowing your route, I had planned out and projected the route for the week prior to walking it, memorising its various twists and turns, but I'd never actually accurately plotted it and got an accurate distance. Using Google maps and plotting a line along the nearest available roads gave me a distance of 15.5 miles, and that seemed sufficiently different from the direct route of 12 miles for me to use it as the projected distance, even when factoring in the deviations I would inevitably make. Ground conditions and the hill climbs made the first day hard but I still thought I'd projected correctly, but sitting down to plan the unintended day 2, I realised just how badly I'd screwed up my calculations as the unwalked miles totalled not 8 but 10, and I suddenly felt lucky that I had chosen to quit as 19 miles of up and down would surely have been beyond me. So include that in the mix of reasons as to why the 2013 season has gotten off to a sluggish start, along with a general lack of mental and physical enthusiasm, and this winter that just will not end... But, anyway, onward!
The Beeching Report 50th Anniversary Walk, part 2: Thornton to Keighley 10.2 miles
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| Well Heads Tunnel |
Set out early for Thornton, as I've got a hot date in Hebden Bridge at 3pm, taking the early morning bus via Bradford and arriving at Thornton station entrance at 9.10am, where two ladies are out tending the flowerbeds and I set off purposefully along the south side of Thornton Road beneath crystal blue skies and feel bold enough to go without a fleece, knowing I'll have heated up plenty after about 40 minutes. There's distinctly less snow than there was on Easter Monday, but it's still piled up by the roadside (which lacks a decent footpath for plenty of its length), and I push on past Thornton cemetery and the new housing development which offers no indication of any access points to the Great Northern Railway Trail. Soon enough we meet the cutting which lead the railway under the road and cross over to look down at the sealed south portal of Well Heads tunnel, hiding away below over-growth at the bottom of its steep-sided cutting. I'll not be venturing down there for a closer look, instead taking the foot path that leads up the hill through gardens, fields and snow choked driveways to the road at Well Heads, and after talking our last look back towards Thornton and Queensbury, it's over the top of the hill to get a new vista before us, looking all the way up the the snow-capped southern edge of the Dales. I could trespass my way over the fields to the north tunnel portal (and to the now-visible Denholme tunnel too), but it's pretty much buried by all accounts, and anyway a fun field walk is to be had beyond Morton End farm where every wall crossing through the drifted snow is an adventure in itself, like wading through builders sand.
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| Denholme Tunnel |
This stroll leads down to Denholme Clough, and descending down its steep side requires care as slightly melty days and sub-zero nights has left an ice sheen on all the slopes that the sun hasn't lit yet, so it's a lot of dainty steps to get to the beck and to the swing back on myself as I follow this hidden little valley down between evidence of quarrying and some challenging icy footing to get back to the embankment between the two tunnels. It's a pretty impressive bridge which carried the railway over the beck and farm track, and I ascend the embankment to get a better look at Denholme tunnel. A short one is this and also sealed, with a sizable marsh in the access cutting, though the access hatch is temptingly open but I have to wonder why would anyone come all the way out here to dump a trampoline? Take the shortcut up over Birks Hill alongside the tunnel cutting rather than taking the footpaths, and Doe Park reservoir appears to dominate the scene, and I hit another icy and snow-bound descent towards the site of Denholme station, which used to be occupied by a wood yard which has now been completely cleared after closing last year, so if there were any station buildings enduring amongst the industry, they have definitely gone now. I choose not to trespass through the gaps in the fence and instead head up Station Road to the path alongside the allotments, which feels remote from the nearby town until you spot the parkland and the war memorial through the trees. Meet houses and descend Foster Park View to follow the path that takes a roundabout route down hill, offering no views of Doe Park tunnel at all, until criss-crossing the trackbed via a nicely preserved overbridge and thence it's up the farmtracks to Carr Lane farm, before descending again through more fields and impacted snow.
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| Hewenden Viaduct |
Our first sneak-peek at Hewenden Viaduct is had as the hill is crested, and a good examine of the embankment can be had before we hit Whalley Lane and its overbridge, then following the footpath alongside the trackbed which is actually tarmacked as the access road to a disused quarry and would have been straightforwardly walkable if I'd had a bit more foresight. The path continues below the embankment as it dives through Park Wood, before hitting the road at Wood Nock, where the abutments of the bridge seem to be much larger than is necessary for the arch going over, and follow the road from there up below Gleid Hill to meet the view of Hewenden Viaduct and reservoir, and that's is one applause inducing combination. The day has clouded up a bit as I water and take in the view, and feel bold enough to put away the woolly hat and don the baseball hat for the first time this year, and move on to encounter a guy plotting his next social walk without the aid of a map, so bad planning is not just my bag it seems. Ascend to meet Wilsden station (nowhere near Wilsden) and the original section of the Great Northern Railway Trail, which leads us out over the gracefully curving 17 arches of Hewenden Viaduct and this one is a beauty too, and good to see that parents are out with their kids to walk and cycle here, and almost get adopted by one family before pressing on. As trails go, this one is short, only just over a mile, but once it gets on through all those tunnels it will be a much different beast, but the drag to Cullingworth offers only one overbridge of note, so for now at least, it's best to treat this as part of a longer stretch than just coming to walk it alone.
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| Cullingworth Viaduct |
Into Cullingworth we go, but its viaduct offers no photographable angles even when descending from the track, so that's one to photograph on a future walk, and I continue along the cycle path below the site of the goods yard, noting an attractive bit of culverting before being taken through the recreation ground and a very nice stone-built estate before arriving at yet another Station Road, where the station site is completely obscured by industry and over the infilled bridge, the trackbed is taken by the very private driveway to Lakeside Farm. So some shadow walking is necessary again as the path dips under the trackbed to meet the entertainingly large millpond at Ellar Carr mill, before ascending up the track to the bridge below Lakeside farm and beyond there the trackbed has been infilled, so make for the bridleway between the stonewalls and that loses me somewhat when it hits the fields as map and tracks do not coincide at all. Sugden House farm is an obvious marker in the landscape though, and passing that, you can peer down into the clough knowing that the south portal of Lees Moor tunnel is down there somewhere beneath the landscaping. I've got a farm track to follow over the hill, through the roughest bit of land encountered on this route, and a few facts about Lees Moor tunnel are worthy of being dropped as I go; opened in 1884 and 1,400 metres long, and entered going west and exited going north, it was know by railwaymen as the Hell Hole because of its intense curvature and lack of ventilation, the last passenger trains rode through it in 1956 and was finally closed in 1965, these days, it is reported that it is full of caravans...
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| Apple Street Cutting |
The hill is crested and the Worth Valley opens up before me, with Cross Roads and Haworth directly ahead, and the high moors beyond, but I'm going north so take the swing down to Bingley Road and meet my fellow traveller encountered at Hewenden viaduct and wonder how he seems to have got here even quicker than I did. Descend down to Halifax Road via another snow choked ginnel and then the tramp down to Keighley starts in earnest, and there are prettier paths to take than the A629, but I intend to tread them at a later date so press on finding another old road maker to warm the spirit, 2 miles it says, and I'd better eschew a lunch break in order to make my bus. Cross over to peer down into the valley, where the still extant Worth Valley line can distract from the hidden GNR line, and I get some steam train action as a bonus and even at this distance I can be enough of a trainspotter to recognise that it's a Midland Railway locomotive hauling the train. I'd happily venture down to explore what remains of the GNR line down among the trees, but there's a lack of footpaths and I'm uncertain as to the privacy or otherwise of the lands, so I'll stay up on the road, admiring the various housing styles along the way and noting that part of the access road to Bronte Caravan Park certainly follows the trackbed, and it should be accessible from Damems Lane too. After a mile of road walking and steady descent the road winds and the trackbed finally reappears as the Apple Street cutting dives under the main road, just as we arrive on the edge of Keighley.
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| Keighley Goods Shed |
Past the second old sign on the Keighley - Halifax road, and a detour uphill is taken from the edge of Ingrow to take a peer into the nicely stone-lined cutting beneath Hainworth Lane, and then the Hainworth Wood Road is followed to detour down to the site of Ingrow East station, now obscured by industrial units, and then continue along the high road before looking out at the trackbed again on Woodhouse Road as the GNR lines and Worth Valley lines come ever closer together. Back to the high road, again, and the housing along the way lapses from stone terraces to council houses to suburban living in short order, and below the trees down to my left is where the two lines merged, at least for the passenger services. The GNR ran their own goods yard at Keighley and somewhere under Park Road is where Parkwood tunnel ran, and a detour around the back of the Globe Inn will show us where the remaining stretch of infilled cutting resides and I cross the iron footbridge to see where the line ran under the Worth Valley branch. Then it's under the ginnel, to hit Coney Lane and East Parade and the stretch down to the railway station, and there used to be a number of rather uninspired old buildings down this way, but there's been some serious demolition going on recently, and it has claimed the last remaining piece of the old goods station, which can still be seen on Google Street view, but not in reality. A detour is thus necessary to see that the GNR goods shed is still in situ and in use, and I hope that building endures to complement the Low Mill complex across the way. Finally we hit the dash to the finish line, and roll into Keighley station, where the K&WVR has preserved the branch platforms very well, and the whole place has a rare step-back-in-time quality, it is one of the most recommendable features of this town, and how did my timing do? 1.45pm and plenty of time to make the 2.05 bus to Hebden Bridge and after all that exertion, I think I see booze in my immediate future!
Next on the Slate: Attempting to return to the Dales Way, as today may have indicated that Winter has passed and Spring has finally sprung...
1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 562.5 miles
(2013 total: 97.2
miles)
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